German army?

[mandrake]

Hello, i own this coat but i know nothong about, i've found unissued in a market in 1990

[Montgomery Burns]

ehhmmm ? you got some pictures

[mandrake]

sorry...here the pictures![IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

[Chip M]

It looks like a very nice early war, so-called "Ersatzmantel". These started to be produced during the shortages of 1915, when stocks of the earlier coats were exhausted.

The stamp you have shown on the inside of the coat is a unit mail stamp from a training unit in Germany. This might account for the coat having survived in such nice condition. The "S.B." stands for "Soldatenbrief". Though it is odd to see it in a coat, it is a handy way of marking it, if you don't have a unit ink stamp. It would be interesting to see the black ink mark that you can partially see in the picture.

Chip

[mandrake]

here the stamps you were unable to see, i've found it in a market 20 years ago,it was folded with its original paper, it was never issued to soldiers. Thank you for the infos!

[Hoss]

Just saw this
Beautiful greatcoat

Eric

[Chip M]

Well, this coat is not a M1908 from what I can see. It has no collar tabs (Kragenpatten), no shoulder loops for the M07 shoulder straps to go through, short barrel cuffs, no hip pocket flaps and the buttons and back belt details are different. Though many of the overcoat changes were made in early 1915, this example, at least, shows that the transition was underway already by the end of the year in 1914.

Chip

[Hoss]

Chip
Has loops look again those buttons I've not seen before aren't that type usually hollow dished?

Eric

[Chip M]

Eric,

Your eyes are younger than mine. I still can't see the loops.

On the M08 the buttons should be the plain dish type as you describe. I've seen them with crown tunic buttons too, but they may have been replacements.

These buttons look like a wartime version of the plain buttons. I think I see field gray paint on them.

So, how would you ID this piece?

Chip

[pzrwest]

Arrows point to shouldersrap loops on the shoulders

[Chip M]

Thanks pzrwest. I know where they are supposed to be. They are just hard to see.

Chip